Logan: Bassmaster Classic will have $20 million economic impact on Birmingham, region

Don Logan, co-owner of BASS LLC, talks to Rotary Club of Birmingham members following his speech at the club's meeting. (Michael Tomberlin/AL.com)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Don Logan said the Bassmaster Classic should have at least a $20 million economic impact on Birmingham, Lake Guntersville and other parts of the state when the Super Bowl of fishing tournaments takes place here next month.

Logan, after he, Jim Copeland and Jerry McKinnis purchased BASS LLC from ESPN in 2010, relocated the corporation’s headquarters from Celebration, Fla., to Birmingham. Logan told the Rotary Club of Birmingham he moved the headquarters to Birmingham “where it belongs because it’s the center of the bass fishing universe.”

In an interview after his Rotary speech, Logan said it was a personal priority to bring the Bassmaster Classic, BASS LLC’s crowing annual event, back to the Magic City. This will be the eighth time Birmingham has hosted the event.

“This is top fishing event and one of the single most important events for the entire industry,” Logan said. “I personally felt like Birmingham should host it again and it would actually be a shame not to have it here.”

Logan said Alabama and Texas often rank among the top states with the most bass anglers. He said nine of the 56 anglers who will compete in this year’s Bassmaster Classic on Feb. 21-23 are Alabama anglers.

The 2014 GEICO Bassmaster Classic will be held in Birmingham and Lake Guntersville. The fishing itself will be at Lake Guntersville but the weigh-in and Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo will take place at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

“We were very pleased when BASS decided to make its home in Birmingham. Now we are having an eighth opportunity to showcase our nearby bass fishing lakes to anglers around the world,” Jim Smither, president of the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau, said.

Smither said the $20 million economic impact Logan projects is in line with what the GBCVB is expecting.

“This is a huge event for the region not only in terms of economic impact but also for the exposure the Classic brings with it," he said. "It’s a pretty big deal to be named the country’s ‘Bass Fishing Capital,’ and that’s exactly what this event has done for us.”

The expo will feature vendors for everything from boats to bait promoting their goods at booths and displays in the BJCC. The weigh-in events are packed-house events where anglers weigh their daily catches as they compete for the top prize.

“This has been a big event for Birmingham and the state in the past,” Logan said. “It’s going to be even bigger and better this time.”

Logan said another benefit to Birmingham will be the positive press as sportswriters file stories with a “Birmingham” dateline. He said there have already been more than 200 requests for media credentials.

The day before the Bassmaster Classic, media members will be invited to Birmingham’s Regions Field, home to the Birmingham Barons (owned by Logan and his two sons), where they will be treated to a luncheon and given access to the anglers.

But Logan said the plan is to line the anglers’ boats in the stadium’s concourse and allow media members to interview the competitors sitting in the same boats they will be fishing from as they prepare lures and lines for the upcoming tournament.

The tournament will have five hours of coverage on ESPN2, Logan said, the single largest block of the 25 hours of fishing tournament coverage BASS LLC produces for ESPN channels each year.

Logan said he would like to get Birmingham in a regular rotating cycle of cities to host the annual event.

When someone asked the “retired” Logan if he was looking at any other ventures, he hinted he is currently being pitched some intriguing opportunities that have his attention. However, other ventures will find it hard to compete with BASS, he said.